Bhai Bidhi Chand Chhina

Bhai
Bidhi Chand warrior as well as religious preacher of the time of Guru
Hargobind, was a Chhina Jatt of the village of Sursingh, 34 km
south of Amritsar. His father's name was Vassan and his grandfather's
Bhikkhi. His mother was from Sirhah, another village in the same
district. As a young man Bidhi Chand had fallen into bad company
and taken to banditry. One day, a pious Sikh, Bhai Adah
of the village of Chohla, led him into Guru Arjan's presence. Bidhi
Chand wished no longer to return home and decided to dedicate
the rest of his life to the service of the service of Guru.

He
was one of the five Sikhs chosen to accompany Guru Arjan on his journey to
Lahore where he was martyred in 1606. Guru Hargobind chose him
to be one of the commanders of the armed force he had raised and
he displayed as a soldier great feats of valour in battles with the
imperial troops.

His
best-known exploit, however, was the recovery of two horses, Dilbag
and Gulbag, from the stables of the governor of Lahore.
The horses belonged to a Sikh who was bringing them from Kabul
as an offering for Guru
Hargobind, but they were seized on the way by the Mughal satrap.
The first horse Bidhi
Chand recovered disguised as a hay-seller, and the second
disguised as an astrologer.

Besides
being a brave warrior, Bidhi Chand was well versed in Sikh lore and tenet.
From Kiratpur, he was sent out by Guru Hargobind on a preaching mission to the
eastern provinces where a Muslim saint, Sundar Shah of Devnagar, became so
attached to him that, before he left for the Punjab, he secured his word
that he would return and spend his last days with him.

According
to Gurbilas Chhevin Patshah, Bidhi Chand remembered his promise and,
as he saw his end drawing near, he took his leave
of Guru Hargobind and went to Devnagar. The two friends spent three
days reflecting
together on the teaching of Guru Nanak, whereafter, continues the
Gurbilas, both died
at the same time (14 August 1640). Sundar Shah's disciples buried
the one in
accordance with Muslim rites and cremated the other in accordance with Sikh
rites, and raised shrines in their honour. Some time later, Lal Chand, a nephew of
Bhai Bidhi Chand, brought from the site of his shrine at Devnagar some earth over
which he built a samadh in his ancestral village, Sursingh.